Dr. Valluri (Bob) Rao, former Intel Fellow, IEEE Fellow, is currently an independent consultant, technical advisor to several semiconductor startups and a member of the Silicon Catalyst advisory team.

As Intel Fellow, Bob pioneered heterogeneous integration and chiplet architectures, Ferroelectric Memory, RF MEMS switches and silicon process integration for CMOS radios.   Bob also started Intel’s GaN project, which developed GaN growth on 300mm Silicon wafers and the 1^st E-Mode transistors with Hi-K Metal gate for RF and power delivery. 

Prior to promotion to Intel Fellow, Bob pioneered technologies for microprocessor silicon debug and FAB yield analysis.  These included Ultrafast Optical probing, Single photon IR imaging, Focused Ion Beam on-chip circuit repair and e-beam voltage contrast.  The Optical probing work led to Intel’s Silicon Photonics. 

Bob has over 130 issued patents, and 50+ publications and speakerships.  Bob holds MA, Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Jesus College, Cambridge University, UK.